FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an outward appearance of a conventional card attachment/detachment device. In the drawing, a reference numeral 1 denotes a body of the card attachment/detachment device, which is constituted by a pair of guide members 2 each extending in a direction of inserting the SIM card (hereafter, referred simply as a card) C. A reference numeral 3 denotes a card accommodation section, which is defined so as to straddle a space between the pair of the guide members 2. A reference numeral 4 denotes a card insertion/removal opening defined between the respective ends of the pair of the guide members 2. The card insertion/removal opening 4 is flush with the end of the card accommodation section 3. Terminals 5 are arranged at a lower portion of the card accommodation section 3, each coming into contact with the card C in a space between the pair of the guide members 2. A reference numeral 6 denotes an external terminal to connect the terminals 5 with external devices (not shown) such as the cordless telephone and so on. A lid 7 having an inverted L-letter shape in cross section is arranged reciprocally in longitudinal directions (indicated by arrows A1 and A2) of the body 1 at an upper portion of the card accommodation section 3. A reference numeral 8 denotes an operating lever moving the lid 7 in the longitudinal directions of the body 1.
Next, an operation will be explained.
First, when the card C is placed in the device, the operating lever 8 is operated in the direction indicated by the arrow A1 to bring the lid 7 close to the card insertion/removal opening 4. In this way, the card C is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A1 to insert into the card accommodation section 3 through the card insertion/removal opening 4. At this time, the card C is engaged with an engagement means (not shown) arranged at a lower portion of the lid 7 and held by the lid 7.
Next, the operating lever 8 is operated in the direction A1 to hold the card C at a predetermined position in the card accommodation section 3. At the predetermined position, the card C is electrically connected with the external devices through the terminals 5.
On the other hand, when the card C is removed from the device, the operating lever 8 is operated in the direction indicated by the arrow A2 to return the lid 7 to the card insertion/removal opening 4. In this way, the electrical connection between the card C and the external device is released to expose a part of the card C ejected from the card insertion/removal opening 4 to allow pulling out the card by fingers.
Incidentally, with the above card attachment/detachment device, the card C is generally energized through the terminals 5. Upon energizing, the card C may be inserted into or removed from the device. That is, when ‘insertion or removal of a live wire’ is performed, there has been the fear of damaging circuits of the cordless telephones or the card C itself. To apply power to the card C only when the card C is placed in the device, a detection means 9 is arranged at the body as shown in FIG. 1. The detection means 9 determines whether the card C is placed at a predetermined position in the card accommodation section 3 or not.
However, the above conventional card attachment/detachment device does not have a structure allowing holding the card C in the insertion/removal directions (indicated by arrows A1 and A2) of the card C. When the device falls down in conjunction with the cordless telephone acting as the external device for example, the card C may move instantly from a predetermined position in the card accommodation section 3 in the direction A2 and may then return immediately to the predetermined position. In this case, there has been the fear of misidentifying that the card C is not placed at the predetermined position due to the detection means 9 in spite of the return of the card C to the predetermined position. At this time, since applying power to the card C is stopped, there are inconveniences that the external device such as the cordless telephones cannot be used temporarily for example.
JP-A-1998/336292 discloses a cordless telephone made to solve the inconveniences, the cordless telephones providing with a card attachment/detachment device arranged at a position where a battery pack is disposed.
However, with the construction disclosed in the gazette above, it is necessary to remove the battery every time the card C is inserted into or removed from the device. Therefore, the construction has inferior usability.
The invention was made to solve the foregoing problems. An object of the invention is to provide a card attachment/detachment device ensuring holding the card even if the device undergoes external forces such as an impact due to dropping and preventing misidentification with respect to the presence or absence of the card in the device without removing the battery.